Yankees Convene as Spring Training Starts

TAMPA, Fla. — The first day of spring training is like the first day of school for the biggest kids of all — and there are few bigger even than the Yankee’s slimmed-downed ace, CC Sabathia.

The Yankees wander into their spring training complex early in the morning, find their new lockers for the year, take their annual physicals and notice the changes the winter has wrought in their pals. Nice haircut, Phil — very SoCal! Wow CC, you’re, uh, slightly less enormous this year!

They raise an eyebrow at the new kids — this year’s additions include pitchers Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda — and shake their heads about the one who moved away, A.J. Burnett, before forgetting he was ever here.

It’s as ritualized a day as they come, a rite of spring even for the players. Every year, on every team, every player shows up in the “best shape of his life.” And every team is still a contender for the World Series.

But these are the Yankees, and they truly are a contender for the World Series in the season ahead. And Sabathia, once again, insists that he really is in the best shape of his (pitching) life: a reasonably svelte 290 pounds.

This year, the Yankees’ ace says he is prepared to keep the weight off — unlike last year, when his girth grew alongside his ERA in the final months. ”It’s just something that’s up to me to maintain, and I’ve got a lot of help around here, so it shouldn’t be hard,” Sabathia said.

The newest Yankees also made themselves comfortable. Kuroda unloaded his things at his locker — Burnett’s old stall — and beamed.

“I’m so excited. I’ve been waiting for this day,” Japanese native Kuroda said through an interpreter. “This team not only represents the game of baseball, but it’s one of the prominent teams worldwide in any sport. It’s obviously a team that always wins, and I wanted to have a chance to win the championship.”

Nearby, fellow newcomer Pineda sat quietly, changing after his workout at the locker conveniently placed next to Sabathia’s. Pineda, 22, is widely assumed to be the No. 2 behind Sabathia, but Yankees general manager Cashman warned against any presumption and worked to tamp down expectations.

“I’ve seen people write the slots in right behind CC in the rotation,” Cashman said. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s not the case. He is a young, high-end arm that we look forward to growing into someone who we hope can be a consistent winner for the Yankees going forward.”

“But I think expecting stuff like that out of the gate and expecting him to gravitate to the front of our rotation so early, we don’t have those illusions,” Cashman added.

Technically, the gang isn’t all here yet. With Burnett’s looming departure, the Yankees plan to reallocate the money saved towards signing a DH — and Cashman made it clear Sunday that among the options, Raul Ibanez is the best bet.

Ibanez, despite being 40 years old, played 140 games in left field last season for the Philadelphia Phillies, many more games in the field than primary DH’s Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. The Yankees want a player who can step in defensively every day if needed — and that would seem to rule out Damon and Matsui at this stages of their career.

“I’m not saying a quality defender, I’m saying someone that, for an extended period of time, can still provide some kind of defensive component to protect us in the event we have injuries,” Cashman said.

A return for Eric Chavez could also be on the horizon. Once those players are in camp, the team will be nearly complete — though that doesn’t mean they’ll all be in Tampa. On every team, just as in every classroom, there are star pupils — and Mariano Rivera is the archetype. Rivera casually let Cashman know that he’ll be arriving late this year, as usual. At age 42 and en route to the Hall of Fame, who is Cashman to argue?

“He told me ‘Cash, I just wanted to give you the heads up, I might be a little late.’ I just said, ‘Just tell me when you’re coming.’ I mean, what am I going to do? It’s Mariano Rivera,” Cashman shrugged.